True Identity (ZoSan)
by JustMilo13
Summary: (WerewolfZoroxSanji) When Zoros strange behavior and the weird dog sighting on the ship start to link up, Sanji decides that it is time to figure out what the swordsman has been hiding from him for three months. But will he accept what he learns about him? And will new feelings arise? Let's find out! (Cover drawing made by yours truly ;))
1. Secrets

**Hello!! Welcome to a new story!! I have always loved the concept of Werewolves and their myths, so I really think I'm gonna enjoy writing this. But more importantly, I really hope you readers enjoy this story, and please let me know if you do by liking and commenting! And without further ado, here is the first chapter of my new story. Enjoy!!**

ZOSAN

Sanji was startled awake by the sound of shuffling footsteps at his feet. He sleepily lifted his head up to see a large human figure slowly walking past the foot of his hammock, clearly trying to make as little sound as physically possible.

After spending three months on the Straw Hat crew, not counting the two years they were separated from one another, Sanji had gotten used to his crew mates getting up in the middle of the night to either use the restroom or steal food from the fridge, thankfully Sanji had remembered to set the traps that night before he went to sleep. Even though this was the case, Sanji already knew who it was before he even lifted his head to check.

It was 12 o'clock on a Tuesday night, the usual time that Roronoa Zoro got up and stayed up for the rest of the night.

It was strange at first to Sanji, seeing a pattern of time and day that Zoro would get up to do God knows what, but he got used to it after a while.

Zoro did not only do this on Tuesday nights, he also got up at the same time on Thursday and Saturday nights, but he made sure to be quiet as to not wake the other men in the room, even though that never seemed to work to Sanjis disappointment.

But that was not what bothered Sanji, it was the thought of not knowing what he did when he was awake.

Other crew mates who had also noticed the pattern tried to ask this question to the swordsman. The brute would either not answer their question or answer it, but continuously change this answer every time someone else asked him. It was as if Zoro did not want anyone to know about what he did when he was awake at 1 o'clock in the frickn' morning! Why did that bastard have to be so difficult?

Sanji would always brush off Zoros nightly patterns and try not to think about it too much in order to actually get some sleep. But then that night changed everything.

ZOSAN

Sanji sleepily watched as Zoro left the mens quarters through the door and listened as his footsteps became fainter as he walked further away. Sanji let out a low sigh before snuggling back under his covers. He really wished Zoro could learn to not step on every single squeaky floorboard in the room, it would make Sanjis life a whole lot easier.

A few minutes passed and Sanji still had not fallen back asleep. He cursed Zoro in at least three different languages in a hushed tone before deciding to get up and go get some water.

Sanji quietly slipped out of his hammock and tiptoed his way to the door. He slowly opened it and carefully walked out to the main deck.

The cool air ruffled his clothes and hair, making his blond locks sway over his vision. Sanji tentatively pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, worried that the wind would blow out his lighter flame.

Just as Sanji placed the filter into his mouth he heard a noise from above him. The cook froze and turned around. The noise came again, and Sanji knew it was coming from the ships helm.

Slowly Sanji walked over to the staircase and walked up, making sure to make as little sound as possible. Sanji already guessed that it was possibly Zoro, but he had to be sure he was right and that it was not an intruder.

Sanji made it to the top step and ducked down low so he would not be seen if it was an intruder. He tensed his legs just in case he would be in for a fight, Zoro or not, he was ready.

What Sanji was not ready for however was who, or rather what, the threat actually was.

Directly in front of him at the helm of the ship was not Zoro, but the biggest dog he had ever seen, at least Sanji thought it was a dog. It sat with its back to the cook, looking out over the side of the Thousand Sunny, it's long fur ruffling in the wind.

Due to how far away the dog was and how dark it was outside, there was no way to tell if it was really a dog. Perhaps it was a wolf, but even then, Sanji could tell that it was still much larger then any wolf he had ever seen.

The cook had no idea what to do in that moment. He just stayed as still as he possibly could, not even letting himself breath in fear of the large animal noticing him.

He had no idea how such a huge creature had gotten onto the ship unnoticed in the first place. It could have come from the last island they had been to, but that was two days ago. That meant that the dog had been on the ship without being noticed for two whole days. Sanji was slightly concerned with the crews awareness skills.

Sanji watched the dog cautiously. Its head rested on the railing of the helm and it seemed pretty relaxed, meaning that it did not know that Sanji was near it.

The cook then decided that he could not just stay there or risk being caught by going back down the stairs. Perhaps if he snuck up on it he could catch it and see what he would do with it later. Maybe it was worth cooking. With how big the animal was he was sure that the entire crew would be eating for days.

As slowly and carefully as his body would go, Sanji moved up the last step and towards the animal.

He had no idea what it would do if it spotted him. Most animals had a fight or flight instinct, Sanji just hopped it was the latter.

The cook had made it halfway to the dog/wolfs position without it knowing he was there. Feeling confident that he could catch the creature, Sanji quickened his pace; still making sure to watch out for the squeaky floorboards.

After walking a few more feet, Sanji readied his leg to kick the creature directly in the head, knocking it out, but that was his fatal mistake.

As soon as he lifted his foot, his weight was shifted to his other leg, making the floorboards beneath him shift down more under the extra weight and make a loud and long squeal that seemed to echo off of nothing.

Sanji cringed at the sound, praying to whatever God existed that the dog did not hear. Sadly that God did not give a damn about Sanjis pleas since immediately after the sound cut off, the dog whipped around in less than a millisecond.

Sanji caught a flash of gold for a split second before he was slammed onto his back by the large animal, knocking all of the air out of his lungs. Sanji struggled to take in air as the large dog launched itself off of Sanji and ran to the other side of the deck.

The cook laid on his back for a second, trying his best to get himself to breath again before pushing himself up to his knees.

He had learned in that moment that the creature that had trampled him was defiantly a dog of some sort, even though its paws were possibly twice the size of his head. Sanji predicted that the flash of yellow was most likely its eyes. Bright and glowing yellow in the nights darkness.

Sanji hoisted himself to his feet, his legs shaking slightly, but otherwise he was able to stand again. He quickly checked himself over for injuries and found nothing.

Sanji lifted his head to look around the darkened ship, but found no sign of the giant dog anywhere. It was huge, how could it be able to escape so easily?

Sanji began walking around, listening closely for any strange sounds, though the only sounds that he could hear were the calm lapping of waves against the side of the ship and the fluttering of the ships sails above his head.

Sanji then saw a large mass dart behind the outside of the galley on the other side of the ship. Quickly, Sanji ran down the steps to the grassy deck below and made his way to another set of stairs leading to the stern.

Sanji slowed his pace to climb the steps carefully and cautiously. Trying his best to make as little noise as possible.

He heard more noises coming from behind the galley and knew that it must be there. Sanji tensed his leg again for a second try.

He saw movement as soon as he reached the last step and knew he had to initiate before the dog spotted him.

As fast as lightning, Sanji ran forward and, using the ground for momentum, propelled himself into the air whilst lifting his right leg upwards.

He had jumped at least twelve feet into the air. Bringing the heel of his foot down upon the dogs head was his main goal, incapacitating it and allowing the cook to put it somewhere secure.

Sanji was inches away from the dogs head as he heard a yell that most definitely did not come from a dog.

At the last moment his shin struck something, but it was not a head, rather the forearm of a person.

"O-Oi! What the fuck are you doing shitty cook!??" Sanji knew immediately after the person spoke that they were no dog, rather a certain someone the cook was really hoping he would not have to run into that night.

"Damn you shitty Marimo! You just had to get in the way!" Sanji's cursed as his legs hit the ground after Zoro lowered his arm. The two men glaring at each other with eyes full of furry.

"What do you mean 'get in the way'? I was just standing hear until you tried to kill me for no reason!!" Zoro shouted, Sanji quickly shushed the idiot. He really did not want the others waking up, especially the girls. They needed their beauty sleep.

Zoro scoffed and crossed his arms, glaring at Sanji with his single steel grey eye.

"Why don't you tell me why the hell you're out here in the first place. Was it just to attack me? Cause that's, low even for you." Zoro grunted. Sanji rolled his eyes at the swordsman.

"I should really be the one to ask you that." Sanji said bitterly. "You always come out here at 12 o'clock at night on the dot for reasons that no one knows." Zoro shifted uncomfortably, just like he always did whenever someone asked him about his nightly disappearances.

"The hell does that matter to you shitty cook?" Zoro mumbled. "Whatever I do is my business, not yours. So mind your own asshole." Sanji fumed at that.

"You should know by now that we have no secrets on this ship. I'm sure that if Luffy figures out about this he will not hesitate to kick your damn ass Marimo." Zoro averted his gaze. Obviously feeling slightly bad for keeping a secret from his Captain. He sighed.

"Whatever. If he wants to kick my ass then I'll let him, but my business is still my business. I'm sure if you knew you would understand." Zoro barely whispered the last part. Sanji knew then that he was entering dangerous waters. He had to tread cautiously otherwise he would be putting himself between a rock and a very angry Marimo.

"Zoro...whatever secrets you have just know that...they're safe with us. We are your friends, your family. You can trust us." Zoro turned to face Sanji with a look of pure surprise on his face. Sanji flushed in embarrassment at his own words, but had no voice to retort so he simply cleared his throat and looked away. The air was suddenly filled with awkward tension. The cook really just wanted to leave.

"Yeah, you're right." Zoro said calmly. "But that means that you have to tell me what you're doing out here cook." Sanji looked at Zoro in shock. The bastards lips curled into a slight smirk.

"W-What!?" Sanji yelled. "How is that fair!?" You haven't even told me why you're out here!" Zoro rolled his eyes.

"At least I'm not harming anyone." Sanji's face fell.

"Oh...right." He mumbled. "I was not trying to go for you I swear. I was trying to get this giant dog and you happened to be in the way." Zoro raised a brow.

"A...giant dog?" His voice had a patronizing tone to it, making Sanji wish that he had not missed that damn Marimos head.

"I know I sound crazy," Sanji began, trying to keep his anger at bay, "but I really saw a huge dog over on the helm." He gestured to the helm of the ship. "I tried to get if but it saw me and ran away behind he-." Sanji paused. "Wait, it ran back here, does that mean you saw it." Sanji pointed an accusatory finger at Zoro. The swordsman rolled his eyes.

"Please. If there was a giant dog running around on deck I'm sure I would know." He then dropped his arms to his sides and began walking past Sanji.

"You should really stop smoking. I think the nicotine's starting to mess with your brain." Sanji whipped around to retort, but Zoro had already walked down the steps and onto the grassy deck below. Sanji sighed. Realizing that Zoro was done talking and wanted to be alone. The cook decided to just go get some sleep before he had to cook in the morning.

He walked down the steps and over to the men's quarters door. He paused and looked up at Zoro who was climbing up to the crows nest.

He knew in that moment that whatever Zoro was hiding was really getting on his nerves. But the damn Marimo had had this secret ever since he first joined the crew, so Zoro was right, it really should not be Sanjis business. But for some strange reason the cook felt somewhat...distant from Zoro because of it. Just because they fought did not mean that they hated each other. In fact, Sanji had never felt closer to a person on the crew.

Sanji let out another sigh and walked into the men's quarters and crawled back into his hammock. Perhaps Zoro was right. Perhaps he had just imagined the dog there for some reason. Sanji knew that Zoros big secret had gotten on his nerves, but he had no idea that it had drove him to insanity.

Sanji exhaled and closed his eyes, even though he knew that he would not be getting any sleep that night.

 **I really hope that you guys are enjoying this story so far. I have so many plans for this story and I'm really hoping that you guys will enjoy them! Thank you again for reading this and let me know if like it! Peace out!**


	2. Lightheaded

It had been a week since Sanjis little run in with the imaginary dog, and the whole thing had been long since forgotten. The cook even willed himself to forget about the whole night all together.

It seemed like years ago that he had seen the weird giant dog, like it was an imaginary friend when he was a little kid, not a hallucination when he was 21.

Luckily cooking was a good method of forgetting embarrassing thoughts. It was around 6 PM and the Straw Hats chef needed to prepare for the big dinner they were going to have that night.

Sanji added a sprinkle of basil to a large pot of stew he had on the stove. He then walked over to the counter to retrieve more spices when Zoro burst into the kitchen. Sanji jumped and turned around to see the one eyed swordsman standing in the doorway with his nose in the air.

"Smells good curly. What is it?" He grunted. Sanji scoffed at him.

"Something you have no good taste in. You'll just scarf it down without a second thought like you always do." Zoro shrugged.

"Food is food." He said simply. Sanji groaned and looked down to tend to the stew.

"You animal." He mumbled. Zoro hummed a response and proceeded to walk around the room in silence.

Sanjis head perked up in confusion. Usually the swordsman would be at his throat at that sort of insult, but he was totally calm, almost...tired in a way.

Sanji was tempted to ask if there was anything wrong until another person burst into the room.

"IIII'MMMMM HUUUNNNGGRYYYYYYYY!!!" Luffy screamed. Sanji rolled his eyes.

"It's not time to eat yet. Wait a little longer." Luffy whined and stuck his bottom lip out to pout.

"But I'm hungry now."

"But I'm not done cooking! Be patient!" Sanji snapped. Luffy groaned and flopped to the ground. His ability to over-exaggerate was unmatchable.

Zoro chuckled softly as he watched his captain gripe on the floor. Sanji rolled his eyes again, continuing to chop up some carrots and place them into the stew.

Suddenly Sanjis ears picked up on a small sound over Luffys whining. It was a quick, yet audible, sound that did not rub Sanji the right way.

The cook looked up to see that Luffy was still laying on the ground with upset tears in his eyes. Nothing strange there. Sanji then shifted his gaze to Zoro who was leaning against the wall of the galley with his right hand on his head and his teeth bared in a sign of pain. Definitely strange.

"Oi, Zoro!" Sanji called over to him. "You ok?" The swordsman immediately looked to Sanji before quickly looking away with a nervous expression.

"Y-Yeah." He mumbled, his voice sounding tired. "I-I'm fine." Luffy picked himself up to examine the swordsman with a curious stare. Zoro looked at his captain as if he was some sort of really ugly stray dog asking to be pet.

"He looks fine to me." Luffy said simply. Sanji narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not so sure about that." He mumbled to himself, though Zoro seemed to hear him since he scoffed and crossed his arms.

"I just got a little lightheaded, that's all. I'm perfectly fine so you can stop bitching me shitty cook." Sanji was about to retort when Luffy interrupted him with a laugh.

"You just need to eat food! Right Sanji!?" Sanji huffed.

"You're not eating yet and that's final." He said simply. Luffy whined again, complaining that he had not eaten anything all day and needed to eat or else he would die. Sanji ignored him and went back to cooking, but kept a keen eye on the swordsman.

Zoro shook his head and blinked multiple times before maneuvering his way past Luffy and out the door. Sanji wanted to follow him, but knew the consequences of leaving food unattended when Luffy was around. He simply sighed and began to stir the stew, the only sounds in the room being Luffys constant whining.

ZOSAN

After working for hours the perfect dinner was finally complete.

Pork and potato stew with a side of French bread and white rice that you drizzled the stew broth on. It was almost too perfect.

Sanji grinned at his masterpiece laid out on the dinner table. Knowing all too well that it would be ruined as soon as the first person walked in, so he cherished it while he still could.

"Dinner's ready!!" Sanji called as soon as he made it out on deck. In no less than a second Luffy was running past him faster than light to the galley. All others following him at a much calmer pace.

Sanji turned around and walked back inside the galley to serve the food, hoping that Luffy had not eaten it all already.

Everyone sat down in chairs at the table and waited for Sanji to pass out the food.

Conversations began as soon as Sanji made his way to the kitchen area (thankfully Luffy had not devoured everything he has worked so hard on) to go pick up the plates of food.

Everyone oohed and aahed as soon as the plates were handed out. Thanking the cook and praising him on his good work.

Sanji smiled proudly and soon pulled up a chair after everything was all set up. He picked up his spoon and was about to dip it in the stew when he was rudely interrupted by Luffy.

"Hey, where's Zoro?" He asked between large bites of his bread. Sanji paused just before his spoon penetrated the stew.

"Yeah, come to think of it a haven't seen him for hours." Nami stated. Everyone started asking more questions about the swordsman.

Sanji was more surprised then confused. Mostly by the fact that he had not even noticed that Zoro was not present. With his bright green hair he was literally a walking traffic vest, how could Sanji have missed that?

Finally after a while the ships doctor, Chopper, sighed and stood up on his chair.

"Everyone calm down." He said. "Zoro's up in the crows nest." Sanji was about to think it was for training, but was proved wrong by the small reindeer.

"You guys all know that Zoro gets really sick one day out of every month, right?" Everyone nodded. "Well he told me that that day is going to be today and to let him rest in the crows nest like he always does. He won't come down until tomorrow. He needs lots of rest so no one better go up there and disturb him." Everyone began to mumble to each other again, asking more questions and wondering if Zoro would be ok. Sanji just stayed quiet and slowly ate his food.

This had happened about three times before for the three months that Sanji had been on the crew. Zoro would get sick and lock himself away in the crows nest for the rest of the day until around midday the next morning.

Sanji was always so confused by that. Who in the world got sick only once a month? And not just a little sick, so sick that they could not even function properly.

Sanji had no idea why, but that thought just did not sit well with him. It just did not make sense. Was it a genetic illness? Something he had when he was born? If so then Sanji had never heard of anything like that.

No one had ever gone up to see him during that time, mainly because they were too nice to defy Chopper. But Sanji knew he had to figure out what was going on. It had to be something more then what Zoro was letting on, and Sanji was tired of being in the dark.

The damn Marimo had too many secrets.

ZOSAN

Dinner was over as quickly as it began and Sanji was already finished cleaning up the galley.

With their stomachs full the rest of the crew had decided to get to bed, but Sanji had other plans.

Taking a bowl of soup that he had made and the simple excuse of 'I have a lot of dishes to clean,' Sanji decided that he was going to go up to see Zoro.

Sanji would say that he was driven to go by the fact that Zoro was always so mysterious, but that was only half of it. The swordsman had not eaten dinner and Sanji was not about to allow one of his crew mates to go hungry. Marimo or not, Zoro was still a valued member of the Straw Hat crew, and it was Sanjis job as the Straw Hats chef to feed those valued members.

Whether he liked it or not.

Sanji walked out of the galley with his bowl of soup in hand, deciding to be extra quiet just in case anyone was still awake.

He slowly walked down the steps and onto the grassy deck. The cook then looked up to the crows nest above him, grimacing at the thought of how he would be getting up there with a bowl of soup in his hands.

Sanji walked over to the ropes leading to the crows nest and, balancing the soup on his head, he began the climb.

With years of restaurant waiter experience, it was easy for the cook to balance the glass bowl upon his head without even spilling a drop of soup. What he was really worried about was why he was doing it in the first place.

Sanji had always just brushed off all of Zoros weird secrets and strange behaviors, but it seemed that recently it had been harder for the cook to do that.

Sanji wondered if the dog had anything to do with it. He knew he was possibly sounding crazy, but ever since that strange night he had been a lot more attentive towards the swordsman then he had been before.

He found that he could not just stand by and let the damn Marimo keep these secrets, he had to take action.

Sanji reached the top of the rope ladder with a perfectly full bowl of soup and a couple of rope burns.

He walked over to the door to the crows nest and carefully knocked to let Zoro know that someone was there.

Nothing.

Sanji knocked again, a little louder then before.

Still nothing.

The cook concluded that Zoro was too sick to let Sanji in, so he decided to just let himself in instead.

Sanji turned the doorknob and stepped into the surprisingly dark room.

"Oi, Marimo! I got you some di-" Sanji froze.

The soup bowl in his hands fell to the floor, shattering to pieces. The soup splattered all over the floor, slowly mixing in with the large pool of blood at Sanjis feet.


	3. Bloodstained

Sanji had always thought that he had been dreaming, hallucinating, going absolutely crazy! But what stood directly in front of him, teeth dripping with fresh blood, proved him very VERY wrong.

The giant dog that Sanji had seen only a week ago was in the center of the crows nest, hunched over something that Sanji could only believe was the source of all the blood.

The dog stared at Sanji with unmoving eyes, letting Sanji know that it had heard the cook drop the soup bowl and was not very keen on letting the cook get away with it.

Sanji could do nothing but stare back, confusion washing over him like cold water from a shower. How had a massive dog-wolf-thing gotten into the crows nest without anyone knowing? And more importantly where the hell was Zoro!?

The cooks blood ran cold as he thought about what the dog had been eating. Praying to whatever god would listen that it was not who he thought it was.

The dog licked its blood stained lips as it continued to stare at the cook, not moving a single muscle. The cook not daring to break eye contact with the creatures surprisingly heterochromatic eyes. One dark grey, the other a bright golden that illuminated the dogs face in the darkness that surrounded it.

After a few seconds of this, Sanji finally found his voice. His cold blood began to boil instead as he thought about what this creature could have done to his friend. Sanji glared at the best.

"What the fuck did you do to Zoro you son of a bitch." He hissed lowly.

The dogs ears perked up at the name 'Zoro' and its position relaxed, greatly surprising the cook. But this was short lived as it quickly went on alert again, anger evident in its eyes.

The dog began to growl at the cook. It lifted itself up on all four legs and glared at Sanji, its pupils formed into slits as it bared its sharp teeth.

Sanji flinched at this and slowly started to move back as the dog approached him. At the sight of the cooks movements the dog growled louder to the point that Sanji knew that it was not a dog, but some sort of wolf.

Its ears were low and it was hunched close to the floor, making it obvious to Sanji that it would pounce on him and kill him instantly if he let his guard down. The cook did not yield.

Soon the two of them were circling each other, waiting for the other to show any form of weakness. Sanji knew that if he was going to make it out of there alive then he would have to fight.

Sanji quickly looked to the carcass on the floor his stomach twisting when he saw it move slightly. The cook was about to think that it was Zoro until it moved again, flopping around in fear and pain of the hardwood floor below it.

Sanji breathed out a sigh of relief after his brain finally understood that the wolf had been eating a giant fish. But that still did not tell Sanji where the swordsman had gone off to.

The creature let out a loud bark and charged at the cook. Sanji had to jump to the side to dodge the large creature.

It quickly whipped around, smacking Sanji straight in the chest with its tail. The cook flew to the side and gasped for air, completely winded.

The wolf growled lowly, its deadly intentions evident as is slowly crept towards the cook.

Sanji picked himself back up and glared at the creature in fury.

"Alright that's it." He muttered. "You asked for this." Sanji quickly whipped his leg forward and struck the wolf in the side of its head. It yelped loudly and it stumbled to the side after the impact. Sanji took this chance to finish it off.

To the cooks absolute surprise the wolf was able to reorient itself much faster then he had predicted and it lashed out at him again.

Sanji quickly dodged and tried a counter attack, but was thrown off by a surprisingly fast tail to the chest once again.

The cook had underestimated how strong and fast the creature actually was. It was even able to shake off Sanjis kicks like they were nothing.

The cook knew he would not be able to slay the beast, so fending it off until he thought of a reasonable escape plan was the only way he could survive.

The wolf pounced again, but Sanji was ready that time. He dodged and kicked again, that time hitting it square in the jaw.

The wolf yelped and stumbled back and Sanji took the small window of time that it took for the beast to attack again to flee the scene.

Sanji ran out the door to the crows nest and quickly began climbing down to the main deck.

The wolf followed him out and glared at him, its single golden eye lighting up its entire face.

It tried to follow Sanji out on the ropes, but realized that it was far too big to keep itself up. It stepped back and growled in frustration.

Sanji flipped it off and continued to quickly climb down the ropes until he made it to the deck. He looked up to see that the wolf had gone back inside the crows nest in defeat.

The cook let out an exasperated sigh and quickly walked off to the other side of the ship. He would go back to that big problem later, after all, he still needed to find Zoro.

ZOSAN

Deciding to not wake the others in fear of being called crazy again, Sanji walked around the ship, looking in every corner to see if he could find the swordsman.

After looking for seemingly hours, Sanji found no sign of the green haired man. It was like he had just disappeared off the face of the earth.

Sanji began to become a bit nervous and worried. Zoro was nowhere to be found and there was a giant wolf running around the crows nest. Sanji wondered if he really was going crazy.

He circled around the top deck once more before searching every other level once again.

Nothing.

After scratching for what felt like hours, the cook finally gave up. Though that did not exactly lessen his anxiety.

Sanji sighed and took out a cigarette as he stood on the grassy deck once again. He lit it up and took in a sharp inhale before breathing it out again.

He stared up at the sky, the full moon reflecting all of its light on the water's surface almost making it glow. It was beautiful.

A loud bang interrupted Sanjis short moment of peace however. The cook snapped out of his trance and stared at where the sound had emitted from.

The crows nest.

Sanjis blood ran cold as he remembered the giant wolf that was still up there. Was it trying to escape? Or was just making a mess of the crows nest? Whichever it was, Sanji had to put a stop to it. He had wasted enough time searching for the damn swordsman, but he really had to focus on the main threat. A giant wolf that somehow ended up in the crows nest.

The cook ran over to the ropes leading to the crows nest and began to climb, without the soup bowl on his head he made it to the top in less then a minute.

The cook ran to the door and threw it open to confront the wolf.

"Oi!! Over here you piece of shit!!" Sanji gained the idea to trick the wolf into charging at him and, if the cook moved out of the way quickly enough, it would fall off of the crows nest and either on the deck or into the ocean. Either one would definitely knock it out, perhaps even kill it. But of course, Sanji first needed to piss it off enough for it to actually charge him.

Sanjis outburst got the wolfs attention. It turned around and growled at the cook, teeth sharp and bloodstained. Sanji glared back at it.

The wolf barked again and charged, just as Sanji had planned it to.

He held his ground, but was prepared to jump out of the way when the time was right.

Sanji counted down in his head from three as the wolf charged him, readying himself to jump when he reached two, shifting his foot when he reached one, and diving to the left when he reached zero.

As soon as he did this the wolf emerged through the door and, as Sanji had planned, was about to fall off of the crows nest.

But something happened that the cook had definitely NOT planned.

Instead of going over the edge from its head-on charging momentum, it swung its body to the side and was stopped by the railing.

Sanji was stunned at how smart the creature was. As if it knew that there was a railing there to stop it.

Sanjis surprise was short lived however as the wolf was facing him and definitely not happy.

It growled at the cook with pure anger. Sanji tried to defend himself with a swift kick to its muzzle, but the wolf somehow grabbed his leg with its mouth mid kick.

Sanji cried out in pain as the wolf dug its teeth into his leg, but it was not finished there.

With a firm grip on Sanjis leg, it was able to lift him up into the air.

Sanji was held upside down by the wolf and, without any warning, it tilted its head to the side and then swung Sanji to the right, letting go of its grip on the cooks leg.

Throwing the cook over the side.

Sanji let out a terrified scream as he fell from the crows nest, unable to find anyway to stop his fall.

The damn wolf watched over the side as he fell, and became smaller and smaller as Sanji got closer to the deck.

Was he going to die or just be knocked out? Sanji had no idea, and no time to even make a plan to stop his fall. He could only brace himself for the impact, knowing that it would hurt like hell.

The cook felt his body hit a hard surface, pain coursed through his back, and then his mind went dark.


	4. A Little Help

"...anji..."

"Sanji..."

"SANJI!!"

Sanji jolted awake at the shout and his eyes shot open. His head pounded and his entire body felt stiff and sore. He instinctively let out a groan as a wave of nausea washed over him. His brain feeling like it would explode at any moment.

"Hey, just take it easy alright. You have a pretty serious concussion from falling from such a height." A voice spoke to the cooks left, but he was in too much pain to bother to move his head to look at who it was.

Where was he? What happened? Why did everything hurt like hell? These questions spun through Sanji's mind, only making his pounding headache worse.

Suddenly a small brown mass entered the cooks vision. It took his eyes a few seconds to fall into focus, but after a while Sanji could clearly see that the brown mass was actually Chopper.

The little reindeer smiled wide when he saw that Sanji had regained awareness. Placing his tools down on the table and facing the cook.

"Ok Sanji, how many fingers am I holding up?" Chopper held up one hoof in front of Sanji's face.

The cook frowned in confusion. He had no idea of a hoof counted as one finger or if it counted as two. He pondered this for a second before finally going with two. Chopper hummed and looked at his hoof.

"Umm...I think you could be right." He shrugged before looking back at Sanji.

"So now that I know you can see and talk, can you tell me how you feel."

"I-I feel like...ugggghhh." Sanji had to stop talking since his head felt like it was about to explode. Chopper insisted that Sanji stay still and rest for a bit.

The cook tried to clear his mind and figure out what was going on. Chopper was there and he was in pretty bad shape so he could only guess that he was in the infirmary. But why?

Sanji thought about it a second before Chopper was back at his side.

"What were you thinking? Going up into the crows nest when I told you not to? How you ended up falling I have no idea, but still, why didn't you listen to me?"

Chopper continued to ramble on about how disappointed he was in Sanji, but the pieces started to fall into place for the cook.

Crows nest...falling...

Then Sanji remembered.

He had fallen from the crows nest, but not by himself. He had been thrown over the edge...but by who?

"-fically told you not to go up there because Zoro was sick, but you never listen."

That was it!

Sanji's memory resurfaced in that moment and he remembered everything. Taking the soup up to Zoro to falling off the crows nest.

The wolf.

Sanji immediately turned to Chopper, but regretted it when he felt his head throb in pain again.

"Ch-Chopper..." Sanji mumbled. The doctor turned around and faced Sanji.

"What's wrong Sanji? Do you need something?" He asked. The cook nodded, feeling a sharp pain in his forehead, but he pressed on.

"Th-The crows nest... Zoro... w-wolf th-" Sanji continued to stutter. His mind had gone foggy again and forming words was so much harder than before. He almost sounded drunk.

Chopper furrowed his brow in concern and walked over to Sanji, slowly pushing him back into bed.

"You need some rest Sanji." He said. "You're a bit delirious from the concussion and the meds I gave you, but if you sleep it off you'll get better in no time." Sanji wanted to protest, but the warmth of the bed was so inviting. He felt his eyes slowly close and his mind go blank once again.

ZOSAN

Sanji awoke again feeling refreshed and energized. His head throbbed a bit, but at least he could think straight. He slowly crawled out of the bed and stood up. He wobbled slightly and his head throbbed again.

Sanji sighed and decided to go to the Galley and get a drink of water to get rehydrated.

The cook walked to the door of the infirmary on only slightly steady legs before opening it up.

He exited and turned to the side to begin walking to the Galley only to feel his body hit something hard.

The force of the impact caused Sanji to stumble back. He was about to hit the ground when someone quickly reached forward and grabbed him by the waist. Sanji was dipped down, his back only a few feet from the ground.

The cook slowly opened his eyes and looked up to see himself staring into the face of Zoro.

Their faces were so close together. Only a few inches apart. Sanji could feel Zoro's hot breath on his lips. It smelled like alcohol.

The cook stared into his single steel grey eye. Sanji suddenly noticed that there was a slight hint of green in it.

Quickly the swordsman lifted Sanji back to his feet and steadied him out.

"Sorry, didn't see you there." Zoro apologized. "Are you ok?" Sanji proceeded to nod but stopped when his head throbbed in pain. Sanji winced and instinctively reached to where it hurt.

"Chopper told me you got hurt pretty bad last night. Fell from the crows nest right?" Sanji sighed to show that the swordsman was correct.

The cook had so many questions to ask Zoro. All about what had happened last night. He was sure Zoro knew something, he had to, right? But he refrained from asking since he didn't want Zoro to think he was going insane again.

"Anyways, I was gonna go in the infirmary to see how you were doing. Looks like you're not too bad off." Zoro smirked slightly, but Sanji could see that it was slightly forced.

Zoro looked tired. He had dark rings under his eyes. They were dull, showing no sign of humor behind them.

Zoro's lip twitched downward and his smile faded. He then moved his head to the side like he was trying to avoid looking at the cook's face.

Sanji noticed a look on the swordsman's face that he had never seen before. It sort of looked like...guilt?

The swordsman seemed lost in thought for a few seconds, his eyes dull and emotionless before he seemed to snap back to reality.

"U-Umm... anyways I...I just wanted to know if you were alright." Zoro muttered, still avoiding eye contact. Sanji just stared at him with confusion. Still trying to figure out if he was really seeing guilt on his face.

"Umm...that's all I really wanted to say so..." Zoro quickly scampered off, his face flushed bright pink.

Sanji had no idea if he should laugh, be embarrassed, or be absolutely confused.

ZOSAN

The cook walked into the Galley only to be flooded by every crew mate on the ship asking if he was ok and if he would be able to make lunch. Sanji ordered them to leave immediately and quickly made his way over to the kitchen to get some water.

As he was filling up a glass everyone filed out of the Galley while Nami walked over to him.

"I'm glad you're ok Sanji-Kun." She said. "Chopper didn't expect you to get better in only a few hours." Sanji smiled at Nami.

"I could never sleep knowing that my beautiful Nami-Swan hadn't eaten her lunch." Nami rolled her eyes, but laughed.

"It's a little late for lunch don't you think?" She asked. Sanji's eyes widened and he quickly looked out the window. He gasped when he saw the setting sun in the horizon. It was so much later than he thought.

The cook cursed under his breath while Nami tried to reassure him.

"It's ok Sanji-Kun, you needed your rest." She smiled.

"Anyways, do you need any help? Chopper said you had a pretty bad concussion and you shouldn't strain yourself too much." Sanji shook his head after he got over his shock.

"I'll be alright." He said with a smile. "But thank you for worrying about me Nami-Swan." He cooed. Nami chuckled and followed all the other crew mates out the door.

Sanji began preparing dinner for everyone. He moved around the kitchen grabbing pans and spices and other necessary items. He lit the stove and went to work.

As he worked he heard the door open. He quickly looked up to see none other than the swordsman himself walking over to the fridge.

"What're you doing here? Dinner isn't ready yet." Sanji sneered.

"Just grabbing a drink." Zoro mumbled as he opened the fridge and took out a bottle of Sake.

"Oi! That's for dinner! Put that back!" Sanji yelled. As soon as he did he was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea.

"Uggghh." Sanji groaned as he leaned back on the counter with a hand on his head.

"Oi, you alright?" Sanji heard Zoro call. The cook tried to answer him, but he felt if he did he would no doubt throw up everywhere.

He heard footsteps and was sure Zoro was going to open the door and leave, but then he heard a voice next to him.

"Here, put this on your neck." Sanji looked up to see Zoro handing him a cold towel. The cook hesitated for a second, but then gave in and took the towel from Zoro. He put it on his neck and immediately began to relax.

"You're in no shape to cook on your own." Zoro said as he looked around the kitchen. He looked back at the cook.

"I'll help you." He said. Sanji had to refrain himself from laughing in fear of his nausea coming back. Zoro, helping him out in the kitchen. The thought of that was completely absurd!

But when Sanji looked at Zoro's face he could see that the swordsman was dead serious. He actually wanted to help.

Sanji pondered this for a second before realizing that Zoro was right. There was no way he would be able to get anything done if he kept getting headaches. He needed assistance. Sanji sighed.

"Fine, you can help. On one condition." Sanji said. "You do everything I say and you do NOT mess with what I'm making or I-"

"Deal." Zoro interrupted. Sanji stared at him.

"Wh-What?" He asked. Zoro gave the cook a very unamused look.

"I said deal. I'll do everything you say." Sanji was baffled. Zoro, a man who took no shit from anyone, was willing to take orders from a man he practically despised with his whole being. Sanji was stunned.

What was going on?

"Umm... ok..." Sanji muttered. "I guess you could start with getting some spices out of the-"

"Like these?" Zoro turned around and held up an arms full of different spices. Sanji gaped at him.

"Not all of them you moss-headed idiot!" Sanji yelled, but immediately regretted it when his headache came back. Sanji doubled over and rubbed his temple.

Sanji saw Zoro tense up a bit before cursing under his breath.

"Sorry." He mumbled. Sanji stared back up at him in confusion.

Zoro was acting so weird. He was actually helping Sanji and he was apologizing. That was definitely new.

"I-It's fine." Sanji said after he got over his shock. "Just... try not to do anything else stupid." Sanji saw Zoro smirk a little.

"Can't make an promises." He quipped. Sanji felt a smile tug at his lips but he forced it down. There was no way he would smile at that Marimo bastard. No way!

Sanji looked over to see Zoro fumbling with with a pot for a bit before inevitably dropping it on the floor. The cook could not help but burst out laughing.

 _This is gonna be impossible_ , Sanji thought.

ZOSAN

A few minutes passed and Zoro was finally able to get the rice into the pot of water without spilling any of it. He placed the lid on and let it stay there as Sanji ordered him to do more work.

He sent him over to the counter to cut up some carrots and peppers. Zoro grabbed a knife from the holder.

"Why am I not surprised your first instinct was to grab the biggest knife in the holder." Sanji sighed. "Listen Marimo, to cut vegetables you need a smaller knife. Grab the one to your left." Zoro grumbled something about bigger being better as he put away the big knife and took out the smaller one.

"Ok, now when you cut vegetables it's a swift motion, but you should start slow. You need to keep the tip of the knife on the cutting board while you pull down the bottom of it to cut the vegetables." Zoro seemed a little confused, but he tried to follow Sanji's directions nonetheless. He began cutting the vegetables.

Constantly the cook had to refrain from shoving Zoro to the side and saying 'no you idiot! This is how you do it!' It was just so painful to watch him mangle those poor vegetables.

Finally after a whole minute of watching the worst vegetable massacre in history, Sanji could not hold back any longer.

"Alright, move aside shitty swordsman, you're doing it all wrong." Sanji shifted over to where Zoro was cutting the vegetables and took hold of the knife.

"The key to cutting anything is in quick and swift motions. If you cut too slow you could risk ruining what you're cutting. If you cut too fast you could risk cutting in the wrong place. It's all about precision and the right speed." Sanji demonstrated by swiftly pulling his knife down and flawlessly cutting right through the pepper set in front of him. Zoro watched from behind him.

Sanji turned his head and smiled at the swordsman.

"You get it?" He asked. Zoro crossed his arms and mumbled something to himself Sanji did not hear.

"Yeah, whatever." He finally said. The cook frowned at him, but decided to let him try again since he could feel his headache coming back.

Sanji moved to the side and let the swordsman take his place. Zoro took up the knife again.

Zoro then did something Sanji did not expect. He closed his other eye. He took a deep breath and swung the knife down.

Sanji panicked slightly since without his vision, Zoro would not be able to see if he was about to cut his own finger off.

Sanji was about to stop him, but he froze when he realized that Zoro was ok.

In fact, he was still cutting the peppers with amazing precision and flawless cuts. His pace was a bit slow, but otherwise, the swordsman was doing well.

Sanji felt himself smile. There was just something so satisfying about seeing someone actually take his advice to heart and try to accomplish something with it. Especially the swordsman.

This made the cook think about why Zoro was doing this. Why he was even helping the cook out. It could not have just been out of the kindness of his heart, no way. So what was it?

When Zoro was done cutting he opened his eye again and Sanji saw it. That small glimmer of a strange emotion Sanji saw back when he bumped into Zoro. It definitely looked like it could be guilt.

Then did that mean that Zoro was helping Sanji because he felt guilty about something he did? But... what did he do?

Zoro turned to Sanji suddenly and looked him dead in the eyes before bowing low.

"I-I just wanted to say that I'm..." Zoro paused.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled. Sanji gave the swordsman a confused look. Not knowing what reason he could be apologizing for.

"Relax." Sanji said. "It's just a few bell peppers." Zoro picked himself up and shifted awkwardly.

"R-Right. Th-The peppers..." he trailed off. Sanji squinted at him in suspicion.

"Anyways, what else do you need me to do?" Zoro changed the subject quickly. Sanji looked at him.

"Ummm... J-Just... the rice should be almost done so you can take the peppers and carrots and throw them into a pan to sauté them." Zoro nodded and went to a cupboard to grab a pan.

Sanji watched him with suspicions eyes. The way Zoro moved was even off. It was the walk of a guilty man.

Sanji knew Zoro had done something that compelled him to try and make up for it, and the cook was sure it was done towards him. But... what was it?

If Zoro felt guilty about it, then it must have been bad. But Sanji could not recall Zoro ever doing something extremely bad to him.

As Zoro began turning on the stove Sanji knew he had to figure out what was going on with him. Perhaps this connected back to the late night disappearances or the fact that he was tired all the time.

Maybe even the giant wolf.

Whatever it was, Sanji wanted answers. And he was no going to stop until he found what he wanted.

Because he wants pretty sure that Zoro life may be in danger.


	5. What are Friends for?

Sanji finished dinner in no time thanks to the Marimo and was already handing out plates on the table.

When they were finished Sanji let out a heavy sigh and smiled.

"Finally, it's done." He said more to himself than anyone else. He heard Zoro grunt however to show that he agreed with the cook.

Sanji then remembered that he had yet to properly thank the swordsman. He would not have been able to finish cooking if it were not for him. Marimo or not, he was still a big help to him.

The cook turned around to face Zoro, but then saw something that worried him.

Zoro was leaning against the wall on his side. His breathing was shallow and his eyes continued to go between drifting closed and snapping back open. It was easy to see to anyone that Zoro was exhausted. But why?

Sanji wondered if he had gotten any sleep last night. Then again counting in the swordsman's disappearance schedule, he was always tired two days out of one week plus the fact that he was ill the other day. Perhaps it was because of that.

"Oi Zoro, you should probably take a nap or something if you're so tired." Sanji called to him. Zoro glared at the cook and pushed away from the wall.

"I'm fine." He mumbled. But Sanji could see he was anything but.

He continued to struggle to keep his eyes open and his movements were slow and sluggish. He quickly shook his head and blinked several times before repeating,

"I'm fine." But Sanji had a feeling that Zoro was saying it more to himself than the cook.

"Whatever." Sanji scoffed. "But if you need a break just take one. I'm better enough to do the rest of the work from here alone." Zoro grunted a response.

As the food was set up, the cook realized that he was early. He still had at least 20 minutes until it was time to eat, so the cook decided he could try and get a head start on washing dishes.

Sanji walked over to the kitchen again and grabbed the pots, pans, and other cutlery off of the counter and placed them into the sink. He then turned on the water and began washing them.

Almost as soon as he started the water Zoro was at his side giving the cook a harsh stare.

"Let me help." He muttered. Sanji opened his mouth to say that he did not need any help and Zoro should instead focus on getting some rest, but he looked back to the dishes to realize that he had a lot of work ahead of him. It would not kill to have an extra pair of hands.

"Knock yourself out." Sanji scoffed as he began wetting and soaping up the dishes.

Zoro moved to the other side of him and waited for the cook to finish with a dish and hand it over to him to dry like they always did.

After only a few minutes the dishes were halfway done. There were a few more pots that needed to soak for a bit before finally being cleaned. Sanji rubbed his hands on a towel to dry them and began his wait.

"Do you need help with cleaning up after dinner?" Zoro asked. Sanji gave him a questioning looked before shaking his head.

"It's just a few plates, it'll be fine." Sanji waved Zoro off to show that he had everything under control. Zoro pursed his lips together to show his disapproval, but ultimately sighed in defeat. Sanji narrowed his eyes at the swordsman.

Accepting defeat was definitely not a strong suit of the swordsman, so why was he doing it so easily all of a sudden?

Zoro had been acting so weird since he first entered the galley. It was actually really concerning. Sanji wondered if there was something wrong with him or if it had to do with the many secrets the Marimo had. The cook could not really be sure on the source, but he was sure something was not right.

Zoro looked over to Sanji and sighed at the look the cook did not realize he had on his face. The swordsman looked defeated.

"Listen, I know you're probably confused as to why I'm doing this," Zoro began, "and I know you must have a lot of questions about... well you know what... and lying like I usually do won't help anything." Zoro glanced at the cook.

"I won't give away anything, but I will say trust me. The truth is not something you wanna get yourself mixed up in. It's not... safe." Sanji cocked a brow at the swordsman.

"The hell do you mean by that?" He asked. Catching on to the fact that they were having a discussion on the swordsman's many secrets, hoping to catch ahold of one. Zoro looked away.

"Look cook. You're smart, I know that. I know you've been trying to figure out my secrets for a while now, but I seriously need to tell you that you're not doing the right thing. Just let it drop and nothing bad will happen." Sanji gave the swordsman a curious look.

"Is someone after you or something?" He asked. Zoro shook his head.

"It's nothing like that. It's something a lot more... personal. Something I'm not sure I can trust anyone with." Sanji nodded.

"So please, just drop it." Zoro sighed. "I can't afford to endanger any of the crew with something that's my own problem that I need to deal with alone. I'm sorry, but that's just how it has to be." Sanji nodded again and sighed.

"Jeez. I never knew how important these secrets were to you." Sanji sighed. "Sorry for trying to prod into your life, it was insensitive of me." Zoro shook his head.

"It's a crews job to look out for one another. You were just doing your job. But just know that this is not something that involves you or anyone else." Sanji nodded to show that he understood.

The cook was slightly dumbfounded by how much he had learned. Even though he still did not know Zoros secrets, at least he kind of knew the motive behind why he kept these secrets. And it made Sanji realize that whatever those secrets were, it meant bad news for Zoro and the crew if any of them found out.

But... they were still his crew. They were so close they were all practically family, and keeping secrets from your family was definitely not something good to do.

"Look Zoro," Sanji began, "you should trust us with any secrets you have. We're your nakama. We would die for you!" Zoro was unmoving.

"I'll accept your need for privacy, but on the condition that I won't ever let you live down the fact that you don't fully trust your crew." Zoro sighed.

"I know that trust in a crew is important, but these secrets I have... they're not... it's... uggghh!!" Zoro groaned in frustration as he pushed away from the counter and turned his back to Sanji. Then he spoke again, his voice having a slight tremor to it that surprised the cook.

"It's... too complicated to explain." Sanji sighed and walked over to Zoro. His friend needed reassurance and Sanji was going to try his best to give it to him. Weather it was Zoro or not, he was still Sanjis friend.

"It's ok Zoro." Sanji said softly. "I understand that you have these secrets you want no one to know, and I'm willing to not push anything on you to force you to tell me. I guess I just never really understood how much they meant to you." Zoro was quiet.

"Anyways, you can keep your secrets, I'm ok with it. But I just want you to know that on this crew, your secrets won't stay hidden forever. You should know that better than anyone." Zoro nodded.

"Yeah." He muttered. The air around the two grew solemn and uneasy. Sanji wondered if Zoro was gonna be ok.

The swordsman shifted uncomfortably and clenched his fists. The cook had to do something, anything, to make him feel better.

"Oi," Sanji elbowed the swordsman in the shoulder in a playful manner to lighten the mood. "Get back to work before I kick your ass Moss-head." He quipped. Zoro was silent at first, but Sanji noticed a small smirk.

"Should've never agreed to do whatever you say." He muttered. Sanji snickered.

"What? You thought it was a good idea in the first place?" Sanji asked. Zoro turned around to face the cook to reveal a small smile and a glimmer of light in his grey eye.

"Shut up shit cook." He said. Sanji sneered at him.

The two spent a few more minutes cleaning up the pots that had been soaking while bickering in a friendly manner.

It was nice to have a lighter mood in the room again, but Sanji could still feel some uneasiness in Zoro. Like he could not even trust the cook.

Sanji knew that he would have to prove to the swordsman that he could be trusted. That he would never give away his secrets to anyone. He knew it would take time, but Sanji was willing to wait.

There was something about the swordsman that compelled Sanji to him. He had no idea what it was or why it was there, all he could do was accept that it would never really go away. It was what made him eager to figure out the swordsman's secrets and to let him know he had someone he could trust.

Sanji thought about this as he ate his dinner with the other crew mates. He could hear them chatting about the next island they would come upon in a few days while Nami urged Luffy to slow down as he stuffed his face full of food.

Sanji found himself continuously staring at the swordsman as he ate.

Zoro was so mysterious yet that was what Sanji liked about him. As cheesy as it sounded, it was the truth.

Suddenly Zoro looked up from his meal and the two made eye contact for a split second and they both quickly looked away.

Sanji felt a hot flash in his cheeks, only for it to be replaced by confusion.

 _Where did that come from?_ Sanji wondered.

ZOSAN

Dinner was over and Sanji was in charge of cleaning up the galley. Chopper had ordered the cook to get to the infirmary when he was done for a quick check up, so Sanji worked quickly.

There was just something so relaxing about washing dishes alone. It made all of Sanjis nerves just disappear.

He hummed the tune of Binks Sake as he washed, dried, and placed dishes back into their cupboards. Feeling as if he was one with the area around him.

Suddenly the door to the galley opened slowly and a bright green head popped in. Sanji looked up.

"Oi Zoro, what're you doing here?" The cook asked. The swordsman walked and faced the cook. He cleared his throat and looked away, a slight hint of pink on his cheeks.

"Ummm... I... I just wanted to say..." Zoro struggled to find the right words to make a proper sentence. Sanji just watched in slight amusement.

"I didn't think you'd actually listen to me and leave me be but... you did. Guess I've gotta thank you for it." He gave an exasperated sigh. Sanji chuckled slightly.

"Oi, no problem." Sanji said to save Zoro a little dignity. "I'm willing to help you out if you need it. What're friends for?" Zoro smiled slightly.

"Yeah." He muttered.

Sanji could sense a hint of uncertainty behind the swordsman's words. Zoro was not one to show his inhibitions, so Sanji was a little surprised.

Zoro really did not want anyone to find out.

Sanji sighed and walked over to him, nudging him in the shoulder slightly.

"Come on, let's get to sleep. It's late." The cook said as we walked ahead. At first he heard nothing behind him, but then he heard the swordsman slowly begin to walk behind him without saying a word.

After his check up with Chopper, Sanji snuggled into bed and listened as Zoro tossed and turned around in his. Sanji hoped Zoro would be able to get some sleep and not let his nerves get the best of him.

Sanji turned over in his bed and sighed. Thinking about everything the swordsman had told him.

The cook wished Zoro trusted him enough to tell him, but the cook had a feeling that even if he were to become Zoro's best friend in the whole world, he still would get the cold shoulder.

Even though this was the case, Sanji still did not want to give up. Zoro deserved to feel safe enough to share his secrets with the crew. So the cook decided.

Even though Zoro had told him to stay away, there was no way Sanji could bring himself to.

So, on that very night, Sanji vowed to figure out what was going on with Zoro.

...

...

...If only he knew what he was getting himself into.


	6. Danger

The next day arrived sooner than Sanji would have wanted and he already found himself in the galley preparing breakfast.

As Sanji cooked the galley door opened. Sanji half expected to see Luffy standing in the doorway begging for food immediately or else he would die, but the cook got none of that. Instead he got a stern look from a very aggravated swordsman.

"Are you sure you're well enough to be cooking alone?" He asked. Sanji scoffed.

"I'm sure I'm fine. Also what's it matter to you Marimo?" Zoro only responded with a shrug.

The swordsman literally looked like he had just woken up a few minutes. His hair was more of a mess than usual and his voice was soft and horse. It was already 8 in the morning.

Zoro was usually the first awake, so 8 was definitely not a normal time for him. He really was tired yesterday.

"Anyways, what're you even doing here Marimo? Shouldn't you be, I don't know, training or something?" Zoro did not respond.

Sanji began to feel slightly awkward as he continued to cook. He turned around just so that he did not have to look at Zoro, but then he could feel eyes on him. Boring into his back. Trying to see his soul.

What was that swordsman doing?

"ISLAND AHEAD!" Usopp shouted from outside. Sanji sighed with relief as he had an excuse to leave the awkward situation he was in. He turned off the stove, placed away his cutlery, and hurried out of the galley.

He half expected Zoro to follow, but the Marimo stayed put. Sanji was so confused. What was going on with him?

The cook hurried to the main deck to already see everyone standing there and looking ahead. Just as Usopp had stated, they were coming up on an island.

The cook had already been told by the others that they were going to stop at an island soon to gather more materials. If he remembered correctly, the island was called Heiwana Island.

There was a small village they had planned to shop in, but the cook really wanted to look around the dense forests to find some rare spices or strange beasts to use for the crews next meal.

The Sunny slowed down as they got closer to the edge of the island until it halted completely and Franky threw down the anchor.

"Alright everyone!" Nami announced, "we're gonna split up into three groups. One will go into town, another will go into the forest, and the last one will stay on the ship." Sanji smiled. He really hoped to get the group that would go into the woods.

"Franky, Brook, and Usopp will stay here and guard the ship. The shipwright, musician, and marksman all smiled at one another and promised Nami that they would protect the ship with their lives.

"Robin, Luffy, and I are gonna go into town and go shopping for valuable items." Luffy grinned and pleaded Nami to go shopping for meat, but she only pounded her captain in the head and told him that money should never be wasted on something so idiotic.

Sanji smiled at realizing that he was going with the forest group. He thought about everyone who was picked and the only ones left were him, Chopper, and...

Wait...

"Sanji, Chopper, and Zoro are going into the woods to get supplies. We don't know how dangerous they are so be careful you guys."

No... no... NO!

There was no way in hell Sanji would allow himself to be paired up with that idiot swordsman. Not again!

Walking around with him was like walking around with a toddler. Getting lost left, right, and center. Even on a very obviously straight path he would find some way to wander off and get lost. It was an absolute nightmare. And the cook was always the one in charge of him.

"Nami-swan~" Sanji called to the navigator. "Is it possible that, I don't know, you could switch Zoro to another group to make him their problem instead of mine?" Nami sighed.

"You and Chopper are going out into unpredictable territory. You need someone who can sense danger and get you guys out of a tight spot. And with your concussion you'll definitely need someone like that." Sanji sighed at realizing that Nami was right in a way.

"And plus, I don't wanna deal with him either! I've already got Luffy." She gestured to her captain who was busy trying to imitate members of the crew, much to Chopper and Usopp's amusement.

"But Nami-swan~" Sanji whined, Nami huffed.

"No buts. You're going with Zoro and that's final." Sanji groaned and just decided to accept the decision rather than fight it more.

He huffed and decided to make his way to the galley to finish breakfast

As he did he passed by Chopper who stopped him.

"Sanji, are you sure you're ok enough to go out? It was only a few days ago that you got your concussion." Sanji smiled at the worried doctor.

"Don't worry, I feel great." He said as he ruffled the reindeers small head. Chopper looked up to him and smiled.

"That's really good to hear Sanji, but just remember not to strain yourself and if you need to rest just say so." Sanji nodded and continued his walk to the galley.

On his way he passed right by the swordsman who was standing off to the side leaning against a wall.

Sanji gave him the coldest hardest stare he could muster, but all he got in return was a sideways glance much to his surprise.

Sanji shook it off and walked back into the galley.

ZOSAN

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Nami asked as the crew all got packed up and ready to step onto the island.

"Yosh!" Everyone responded, all splitting up into their respective groups.

"Alright, we meet back at the ship by sunset. is that clear?" Everyone agreed again.

"Alright! Let's go!" Luffy cheered. Everyone followed up the cheer and the two groups began walking off the ship.

Sanji followed behind Chopper as he bounded excitedly onto the grass below. He suddenly felt a presence behind him and glanced back to see the swordsman standing closely behind him.

The cook would not have thought anything of it normally, but for some reason Zoro standing so close to him made him feel tingly and weird.

His body began to feel warm, especially his face. He had the sudden urge to run into the woods as fast as he could.

The cook tried to shake off the weird sensation. Breathing deeply to clear him mind. Perhaps he really did still have that concussion.

"Alright Sanji and Zoro," Chopper turned around to face the two, "where do you guys want to start?" Sanji hummed as he looked into the think foliage ahead of him.

"I think that here might be a good place. Thick forest is always a good place to find rare ingredients." Chopper smiled.

"Hopefully I can find some ingredients of my own to make some more medicine." He said with a smile.

"What about you Zoro?" He asked, turning to the swordsman.

Zoro who stood at Sanji's side grunted in his own barbaric language to show that he agreed with this option. Chopper beamed.

"Great! Let's go!" He then stepped forward and made his way over to enter the trees. Zoro moved in front of Sanji to followed behind, prompting the cook to move as well.

Sanji began thinking about all the interesting ingredients he could find deep within the dense forest. Perhaps he could find new kinds of plants to make into spices or dangerous animals to make into dishes. The thought of these finds made Sanji smile to himself.

His thoughts were suddenly cut off by his face slamming into something. The cook pulled back to realize that he had bumped into the back of the swordsman who had stopped walking.

"Oi! Why the fuck did you stop idiot?" Sanji asked as he moved around him.

The cook looked up at Zoro to yell at him more, but stopped when he saw the look on the swordsman's face.

He had a very concentrated look as he stared into the woods. Almost as if he could see something off in the distance, and whatever it was the swordsman did not like it. Sanji could immediately tell that something was wrong.

"Oi Zoro, what's wrong?" He asked. Zoro's eyebrow twitched showing that he acknowledged what Sanji said, but he was more focused on something else.

His ears twitched and he sniffed the air. The result of whatever he heard or smelled made him purse his lips and furrow his brow in disapproval.

"Oi Zoro. Zoro? Zoro!" Finally the swordsman flinched and looked over at Sanji to show that he had his attention.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "Why do you have that look on your face?" Zoro opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again. He seemed deep in thought for a bit until he looked back into the woods.

By this point Chopper had noticed that neither of his group mates had followed him and walked back to see what was going on.

"Sanji? Zoro? Why aren't you guys walking forward? Is something wrong?" Sanji gave the doctor a confused look.

"Something's up with Zoro." He said. "He's just staring at the trees with a weird look on his face." Chopper cocked a brow and looked at the swordsman.

"Do you sense something Zoro?" He asked. The swordsman did not look at Chopper, but he did finally speak.

"There's..." he paused. "There's... just something about this forest I... I don't like it." Sanji furrowed his brow at Zoro.

"What do you mean?" Sanji asked. Zoro squinted his eyes in concentration.

"There's something in these woods. Something bad. These trees reek of it." He hissed. Sanji raised a brow.

"You mean you can smell it?" He asked. The cook knew that Zoro sometimes acted like an animal, but he had no idea he could actually smell like one.

Zoro looked at the cook and shook his head.

"Whatever, all I'm saying is that this forest is dangerous. We should turn back." Sanji huffed.

"We haven't even gone in yet and you're already giving up? This isn't like you Zoro." Chopper hummed.

"But Sanji," he opposed. "Zoro's never wrong about the danger he senses. If these woods are so dangerous that he wants to turn back, then whatever's in it is really really deadly." Sanji sighed. Chopper was not wrong. Zoro was a pro at sensing danger in any situation. Even though the cook was right about him never running from a fight, if Zoro really wanted to at that moment, whatever he was sensing had to be more than he could handle.

The cook sighed again, realizing that there was no way he could go into the woods if both Zoro and Chopper opposed it. The cook became disappointed. He was really excited to find new ingredients, but it looked as if he would have to wait for the next island.

Chopper seemed to be on the same page as Sanji. The little reindeer was looking down at ground sadly, halfheartedly kicking at rocks in the dirt.

There was a moment of silence between the three of them until Zoro sighed loudly.

"I only sensed it to the west of here so we should be ok if he stick to the east." Chopper looked up at the swordsman with eager eyes. Sanji was just surprised that Zoro actually knew where east and west were.

"Are you sure?" Chopper asked. Zoro nodded again.

"Yes I'm sure." He said bluntly. Chopper whooped and Sanji smiled.

"So we can go looking for ingredients! Yay!" Chopper cheered. "Let's get started now." He turned around to walk into the woods, but Zoro rushed ahead of him. He looked left then right before heading into the trees first, a hand gripping the hilt of one of his swords firmly. Sanji followed close behind.

"Stay behind me always." Zoro said bluntly. Sanji scoffed.

"Like you know where you're going moss-head. You'll no doubt get us lost." Zoro glanced behind him to give Sanji a harsh stare.

"If you trust me this once, then you don't have to ever trust me again." Zoro said. Sanji gave him a concerned look.

The swordsman was so serious about this. Wanting to do everything in his power to avoid whatever lurked in the trees. It put the cook on edge as well. If it uneased Zoro then it terrified everyone.

The cook nodded to show that he did in fact trust Zoro. He nodded back and looked ahead again.

His footsteps were slow and steady. He looked around them every so often to make sure there was no danger. Sanji did the same just to be extra cautious.

The cook really hoped that whatever the swordsman was sensing stayed as far away from them as possible. Or else they would possibly have a fight on their hands.

A fight they would no doubt lose.


	7. Monster

The three Straw Hats traveled through the thick forest for hours leaving no stone unturned.

Chopper and Sanji looked in every nook and cranny of the forest to find anything they could in the small area they were prohibited to.

Zoro, on the other hand was busy scanning the forest for any signs of danger. Sanji constantly caught a glimpse of the swordsman sniffing the air and trees around them. His ears constantly twitching.

He would sometimes call Chopper and Sanji over to follow him if the danger felt like it was too close to them. Often yelling at them to get away from certain areas.

Zoro's behavior was beginning to worry the cook. He was acting so different than normal. Less like Zoro and more like... an animal.

"Oi Zoro." Sanji began as he walked up to the swordsman. "What exactly are you sensing?" He asked. Zoro looked over at him with a side glance.

"To be honest, I don't think I really know either." He muttered. "All I know is that whatever it is is dangerous and somewhat familiar." Sanji hummed.

"Familiar in what sense?" Zoro shrugged.

"I guess I've sensed something like this before in my life, but I don't really know when." Sanji nodded.

The cook knew a big thing about Zoro. It was the fact that he had lapses in his memory from his past.

Sanji knew that the swordsman remembered going to the dojo, training there, and meeting Kuina, but he could not remember the beginning parts of his life.

His parents faces were a blur to him. He did not ever know if he had parents to begin with. He could fondly remember glimpses of forests, streams, and meadows, but that was all.

Sometimes Zoro would experience deja vu or a certain smell, sight, sound, or sensation would give him a small glimpse of his forgotten past, but not for long. The swordsman still remembered next to nothing.

Sanji always wondered what could have happened to him to have such a large portion of his memory taken out. Knowing Zoro he probably did something stupid and got amnesia or something.

Either way, it was kind of sad to see someone forget their past. Zoro had no idea who his family was or where he used to live.

"I wanna get out of this forest as soon as possible so finish up quickly." Zoro sighed. Sanji nodded.

"Fine by me." He said as he continued to look around for spices.

He looked around the roots of trees until he found a rather beautiful flower. It's petals were a bright blue and it seemed to glow. The cook was mesmerized. He had never seen anything like it.

Sanji stared at the flower for a bit before deciding that Chopper probably knew what it could be. Sanji turned around.

"Oi Chopper, do you know what this flower could-" He paused.

The cook looked around the area he was in. He saw no sign of Chopper.

"Chopper?" Sanji called. Standing up to look around.

Zoro heard Sanji's calls for the reindeer and walked over to him.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Sanji looked at the swordsman with slight worry in his eyes.

"Choppers gone." Sanji watched Zoro's face contort into a look of surprise as he frantically began searching around the trees.

"Oi Chopper! Where are you?" Sanji called as he followed the swordsman deeper into the woods.

Zoro seemed to know where we was going... somehow. He sniffed the air for a second before running off into the trees.

"This way!" He called to Sanji. The cook ran after him.

"Jesus! How far did he go!?" Sanji called up to Zoro.

"I don't know. Let's hope not too far!" He called back as the two continued to run.

They searched all over the place for hours but came up with nothing. Zoro began to lose track of Choppers trail and the two were just wandering aimlessly throughout the forest.

The sun was beginning to set and the woods were slowly overtaken by darkness. Sanji found himself tripping over tree roots and other objects littering the forest floor.

The cook tried to keep up with Zoro, but he was just too clumsy in the dark. He tripped over another root and fell to the ground. He felt his body hit the dirt and sharp pain shot through his head.

Sanji groaned and rolled over on his back.

"Cook? What happened?" Zoro called to him. Sanji was too disoriented to respond. He felt like his head was on fire and he could barely hear himself think.

Suddenly Zoros dark silhouette appeared in Sanji's vision above him. The swordsman reached down and grabbed the cook by his arms, trying to hoist him to his feet.

Sanji let out a pained yelp as his head felt like it was splitting open. Zoro went slower and managed to get Sanji to his feet.

The cook staggered from his inability to stand. His vision was worse than it should have been. He could hear a loud ringing in his ears and his brain felt like it was being beaten with a sledgehammer.

"Damn this concussion." Sanji cursed quietly as he rubbed his temple.

"You should head back to the ship." Zoro said. "You're in no condition to-"

"Fuck off." Sanji muttered angrily. "I'm not about to let Chopper get murdered in this forest. I'm helping." Zoro made a sound of protest but decided to leave it at that.

He then intertwined his right arm with Sanjis left so that their elbows were locked together.

"You can't see anything so I'll guide you." He said. Sanji scoffed.

"And what? You can?" Sanji saw the outline of Zoro's face turn to him, but he said nothing.

"Let's go." He said as he began to walk forwards. Sanji was pulled after him and they walked at a quick pace through the woods.

Zoro continuously warned Sanji about upcoming tree roots and other junk he could trip over, allowing the cook to step over before catastrophe struck.

Sanji was fascinated by the fact that Zoro actually knew where everything was. He weaved through the darkness with ease as if it were bright as day outside. It was so strange.

Finally the two Straw Hats found an area not covered by any trees. They stepped into it and the light of the moon allowed Sanji to see again. The cook looked to his right to see that Zoro was still latched onto him. Sanji began to feel embarrassed.

"Umm Zoro... do you mind umm... letting go?" The swordsman looked over with a less than amused look on his face before looking at their little arm link. His eyes widened and he quickly removed his arm from Sanjis, his face flushed red.

Zoro cleared his throat awkwardly before gesturing to the other side of the clearing.

"I think Chopper might be somewhere that way." He said before walking in the opposite direction. Sanji was forced to snap out of his stupor and pull Zoro the right way.

The two walked in silence across the rather large clearing. Zoro walking slightly ahead as Sanji took up the rear.

It was eerily quiet. The only sounds Sanji could hear were his and Zoros footsteps which seemed to echo off the trees that surrounded them.

The cook really hoped that Chopper was ok. The little doctor could be anywhere. He could have possibly been found by the creature Zoro had been sensing. Sanji prayed that was not the case.

As he continued to walk Sanji saw Zoro freeze in front of him. He swiftly held a hand up behind him as an order for Sanji to stop as well. The cook obeyed.

The two stood motionless for multiple seconds. There was so much tension in the air. Sanji began to feel worried.

Suddenly a loud sound cut through the air. Sanji had no idea what it was, but Zoro sure as hell did.

As fast as lighting the swordsman ran towards Sanji and grabbed him by the hand. The cook had no time to protest as Zoro was already taking off to the right side of the clearing.

The cook ran behind Zoro as he was dragged along. His head screamed in pain, but Sanji bit it back.

They were almost to the other side of the clearing when a large mass landed directly in front of them. When it landed it shook the ground beneath it, making Sanji lose his balance and fall over.

He looked up to see a huge creature towering over him. It stood on two legs, but it did not look even close to human.

Dark fur covered its entire body. Its feet looked like animal paws and it's hands had the sharpest claws the cook had ever seen. A long tail swished behind it in an aggravated manor.

It had a long muzzle on its face. When it bared its teeth Sanji could see rows of razor sharp fangs. It had a pair of pointed ears on its head and large beady eyes. They glared down at Sanji, glowing bright yellow in the darkness around them, illuminating every horrifying feature on its face.

Sanji gaped at the creature that stood before him. He could not believe what he was seeing. He thought that they only existed in folklore. That they were just myths. Old wives tales. But no, Sanji was one hundred percent sure that the monster standing before him was none other than...

A werewolf.


	8. Transformation

Sanji stared up in absolute horror at the beast that stood before him. It's teeth bared and glistening with blood not yet dry.

The cook was frozen with fear. His legs refused to move and he was unsure if he was breathing or not.

The werewolf glared at Sanji and growled. The sound sending shivers down the cooks spine.

Suddenly the beast started to move towards Sanji. It flexed its fingers, making its claws glisten in the moonlight. It continued to growl inhumanly. Sanji finally found enough life in his body to start frantically crawling backwards.

The cook let out small sounds of fear as he watched the beast lumber towards him. It licked the blood off its lips. Preparing for its next meal. Was this how Sanji was going to die?

Sanji heard footsteps next to him and suddenly Zoro appeared in his view. The swordsman stalked forward. His body language showing the cook that he was ready for a fight. He stopped directly in front of Sanji. Directly in front of the beast.

The werewolf growled and snarled at Zoro. It's fur standing on end and it took a few steps back. Somehow, it was afraid of Zoro.

The swordsman started or walk forward slowly. The werewolf snarled at him, but it did not lunge. Instead it began to step back again.

Zoro tried to push the monster back into the woods as it continued to try and resist. Occasionally snapping at Zoro.

The whole time Sanji sat on the ground staying as quiet as he possibly could. Still amazed at the fact that Zoro was somehow keeping this monstrous Admiral killing beast at bay.

After a few more minutes, the werewolf started to become braver. It would sometimes stop walking back or snap more often at Zoro, until it finally refused to move anymore. Zoro stopped as well.

Even though his stance was still on the offense, Zoro seemed to become slightly defeated, but not from being unable to hold off the werewolf.

For just a second, he took his eyes off of the beast and looked back at Sanji. His steel grey eye solemn and regretful much to the cooks confusion.

This prompted the beast to lunge forward, teeth and claws barred at the swordsman. Before Sanji could shout at him to look out, Zoro disappeared.

Then, just like that, Zoro reappeared again ten feet from where he originally stood. The werewolf, stunned and confused, snarled at Zoro and tried to swipe his hand at him, but the swordsman dodged again.

That time, he was facing Sanji. He looked up. Straight at the cook. The look in his eye practically predicting what he was about to say.

"Run." He hissed.

He looked back at the monster and began to growl inhumanly. He bared his teeth and flexed every muscle in his body. The werewolf growled loudly and backed away from Zoro. Sanji just stared at him. Unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

Suddenly Zoro started to glow. It was a bright white that engulfed his entire body. Sanji gasped as he started to see the swordsman's body morph and change inside the light.

The werewolf backed away more. Looking desperate to finish off Zoro, but too fearful of what he was becoming.

Finally the light faded and what stood in the swordsman's place was not Zoro.

It bared its white teeth and snarled angrily at the beast, hunched over and ready to kill anything that dared to cross its path.

Standing where Zoro was, was the biggest dog Sanji had ever seen.

It snarled and suddenly lunged at the werewolf. It got its arm in its teeth and clamped down.

The werewolf roared in pain and tried to throw the other wolf off. The monsters blood began soaking the dirt around them.

Sanji took this opportunity to do what Zoro told him to and he made a break for it. He stumbled to his feet and began sprinting the opposite way of the fight.

He had no clue where Zoro was, or if that thing he saw take the swordsman's place was actually Zoro. All he really cared about at the moment was getting the hell out of there.

Sanji sprinted into the trees, the sounds of the fight raging behind him. As he ran further and further into the woods the sounds dulled out.

The cook tripped and stumbled through the dark trees. The only thing keeping him going being the painful feeling of fear in his chest.

He knew that he had to make it back to the ship. He would be safe there.

He just hoped that Zoro would show up there as well, not just because of his poor sense of direction, but Sanji knew that that dog had something to do with Zoro. And if it did, then there was a good chance that that giant monster could end up killing him.

The cook ran with no sense of where he was going. For all he knew he was hopelessly lost. He just prayed that he made it to the shore. Ship or not he needed to get out of the woods.

An ear splitting howl erupted through the air. The trees swayed and the wind seemed to pick up. Sanji whipped his head around out of fear to make sure that that beast had not found him.

As he looked back, he did not notice where he was going and felt his leg miss the ground. The cook looked forward again only to see that he was falling into a ditch.

Sanji cried out as he hit the ground and rolled. He only stopped when his body slammed into the bottom of the ditch, hard.

Sanji's head screamed in pain. He tried to stand, but his body refused to. The cook's vision started to go dark. He practically begged his brain to stay awake, but nothing helped. He could feel himself fading in and out of consciousness until he finally passed out laying on the forest floor.

ZOSAN

The cooks eyes fluttered open. He groaned and tried to raise his arm to rub his head, but it felt much heavier than normal for some reason. He gave up and let it fall back down.

Sanji felt his entire body laying on something rather soft. He snuggled his face into whatever it was and felt extremely relaxed. Perhaps he had been found and he was back on the Sunny in his hammock.

Sanji could feel the ship swaying softly around him. He smiled and snuggled into his covers.

Wait... it's swaying too much. Way to much. Is Franky checking on this?

The swaying slowly got more and more vigorous as the cook regained consciousness until it was practically an earthquake.

There was a sudden jerk and Sanji was wide awake. He shot upright and surveyed his surroundings.

He could immediately tell that he was still in the forest, but somehow he was moving even though his legs were at his sides. Due to how fast the trees whizzed past him, Sanji was going pretty fast.

He felt the soft feeling in between his fingers and in the palms of his hands. Sanji looked down and noticed that his entire hand was engulfed into a mass of grass. No... green hair?

He felt something move below his hand and the hair. It was strong and powerful. A shoulder blade. It moved up and down as whatever Sanji was on moved forward at astonishing speeds. It was an animal of sorts. Why was he riding an animal? How was he riding an animal? Sanji's mind was too cloudy to think about it.

The cook moved his eyes up to the front of him. He saw a large animal head. Then he saw an eye. Golden and glowing in the darkness.

As soon as Sanji realized what he was on, he screamed and tumbled to the side.

The cook fell further than he thought he would and landed on the hard dirt. He grunted and his head pounded in pain. He opened his eyes to see another pair of heterochromatic ones staring back at him.

"St-stay away from me!!" Sanji shouted as he stumbled backwards. The giant wolf looked confused as it slowly walked towards the cook.

"Oi! Stay back you monster!" He finally got to his feet and lifted his leg. "I'm warning you!" The wolf paused and stared at Sanji.

It was at least 6 feet tall and 8 feet long. In the moonlight Sanji could see that it's long shaggy fur was strangely green. A darker shade on its back and a lighter shade running down its stomach and on the tips of its feet.

One of its eyes was a harsh steel grey, piercing Sanji with a cold glare, and the other a golden yellow, the only eye that glowed in the dark, just like the big werewolf's eyes.

Sanji wanted to run, but he knew that there was no way that he could outrun that wolf. He was trapped in the middle of the forest with a giant wolf whose teeth could no doubt tear him to shreds. There was no way out.

The wolf walked towards Sanji again, it was strangely cautious. The cook stumbled back, terrified out of his mind. He swung his legs forward as a warning, but the wolf persisted. It got lower and crept forward, Sanji knew it as getting ready to lung.

As the cook backed up he felt his heel hit a root on the ground. He fell backwards and landed on his back. Sanji groaned as pain shot up his spine.

Suddenly the wolf appeared right over the cook. He screamed and tried to escape, but his shirt was caught in the mouth of the beast. Sanji grabbed at the ground as he was dragged backwards by the wolf.

When he was sufficiently close enough to the monster it stopped dragging him. Sanji could not escape. He was already dead.

Without warning the wolf started nuzzling Sanji on the neck. This took the cook by surprise so much that he just sat there, frozen with fear and absolute confusion.

The wolf kept nuzzling the cook, occasionally licking and nudging his hand.

Sanji had no clue what it wanted from him, but he knew that it was performing all of the affection signs of normal dogs. Also, he felt a strange sense of familiarity towards the beast. Like he had seen it somewhere before. So the cook took a gamble.

Sanji reached out his hand to the wolf. It sniffed it and instead of biting his fingers off it nudged it's head into his hand. Sanji slowly started to pet the wolf, it responded by laying down on the ground at his feet, practically shaking the earth beneath it.

Sanji started to feel less fear, but the same amount of confusion, in fact more. What was this giant wolf/dog thing trying to do? What even was it? Sanji struggled to find the answers to these questions as he scratched the wolf behind the ears.

Suddenly a loud howl ripped through the air and the wolf's head jumped up. It's ears standing up straight.

Sanji remembered the giant werewolf that was stalking the forest. If it found him it would no doubt kill him. Then he remembered Zoro. He hoped he was alright.

Then the wolf stood up and looked at Sanji. It turned its head to the side as a gesture. It wanted Sanji to get up.

Not wanting to disobey a highly dangerous and strangely intelligent creature, the cook tried to stand, but then his legs immediately collapsed under him. His head throbbed as his concision made itself present again. The cook groaned and rubbed his head.

The wolf sniffed Sanji in a worried manner and then made another gesture with his head. This one towards its back.

"Do you... want me to get on your back." Sanji asked. The wolf moved its head up and down to signal a nod. The cook hesitantly stood up, stumbling a little, but managing to make it to where the wolf was. It knelt down so that Sanji could climb on.

He practically sank into the wolf's soft fur. He ran his hand through it only to find that his fingers got caught on several knots. It's fur was matted and dirty. Sanji almost felt bad for it.

And then it suddenly took off running. Sanji had to grip the fur with all the strength he had to keep himself from falling off.

The cook watched as the wolf sprinted through the forest, dodging trees and jumping over roots. It's movements were swift yet smooth. Weaving in and out of the forest like water. Sanji could barely even see what was around him they were moving so fast.

The wolf took a large leap and jumped over a ravine that was at least 50 feet wide. Sanji burrowed him fingers into its skin, too terrified to even think about relaxing.

Finally the wolf slowed to a light jog. Sanji opened his eyes that he did not know were shut and looked around. They had made it to the beach.

The wolf trotted down the shore of the ocean, looking for something that the cook could never guess. It seemed to be going in one direction so there was something important ahead. Sanji just did not know what.

Sanji knew that the wolf could understand him, how? He had no clue. But it would not hurt to try and talk to it, just to see if he could understand what was going on, just a little.

"Uh... so... where are we going?" Sanji asked. The wolf looked over its shoulder at him and gave Sanji a look that said 'just be patient.' The cook had no idea how he knew the wolf was trying to say that. It was a feeling of sorts.

They walked for a few minutes until something started to come into view on the horizon along with the rising sun. It got bigger and bigger the closer they got until Sanji knew exactly what it was.

Almost as if it knew what Sanji wanted, the wolf took off into another sprint towards the Thousand Sunny. It's large paws hitting the sand and leaving prints bigger than Sanji's face.

Sanji watched as they neared the Sunny, and then the wolf slowed to another jog. The cook noticed that the ramp of the ship was down and so did the wolf. It trotted right up it without hesitation.

The wolf slowed to a stop and knelt down for the cook to hop off. When he did Sanji was overwhelmed with happiness. He was so relieved to be back where he belonged. He hoped that the rest of his crew had returned, Chopper too, and... and Zoro.

Sanji recalled what happened only last night. He had no clue what had happened to Zoro, Sanji did not even know if he was alive or not. He just hoped that the Marimo was either on the ship or somewhere safe.

The cook heard the wolf stand up. He turned around and met its eyes again. They looked even more mysterious in the rising sunlight.

"... Thank you." Sanji said to the wolf. It blinked slowly in reply. It turned to leave the ship, but then the cook stopped it.

"W-Wait! There's one more thing I want you to do." The wolf stopped, it was listening.

"Please, can you find a friend of mine. He's probably lost in the woods and has no idea how to get back. He has bright green hair, three swords, looks like a brute, can't miss him." The wolf just looked at Sanji. Then it turned around.

Sanji started at the wolf as it stared back at him. He was suddenly filled with that sense of familiarity again. Almost like deja vu. His face heated up and his head started racing, and he had no idea what

Then, the wolf started to glow.

Sanji shielded his eyes from the bright light that emanated from the wolf. When he looked back, he did not expect at all to see what he saw. The wolf had changed, it was human, but more than just any human.

The man standing before Sanji was Roronoa Zoro. Sanji's mouth opened and closed over and over again, he did not know what to say.

Zoro gave him a dull look and then leaned in close to Sanji. He could feel the swordsman's breath on his ear. And then he spoke.

"If you ever tell anyone about what you saw tonight, I will not hesitate to kill you and whoever you told." Then he leaned back upright, and walked towards the men's dorms.

Sanji was left standing on the deck of the Thousand Sunny. More confused than he had ever been his entire life. His heart raced and so did his head. He did not know what to think. He now understood what had happened that night, but at the same time he did not. All he could do was mutter under his breath in a shaky voice.

"Z... Zoro's a... werewolf."


	9. TheHistoryoftheTruth

Sanji found it impossible to sleep that night. Even imposible to go into the men's dorms where he knew Zoro was sleeping.

The cook stood over the railing on the deck, just staring at the water for hours.

The words 'Zoro is a werewolf' kept flashing through his mind. It was almost impossible to think about anything else.

That giant wolf who fought the werewolf was Zoro, that wolf who carried him back was Zoro. It was almost too much for Sanji to comprehend.

The sound of a door opening snapped Sanji out of his thoughts. He looked over to see everyone filing out of their rooms. Sanji watched them for a bit before they finally noticed him.

"SANJIII!!!!" Luffy yelled as he rushed over and threw his rubbery arm around the cook. Sanji stumbled back, but managed to keep himself and his captain from falling over.

"You're finally back!" A small voice called over. Sanji looked through Luffy's embrace to see Chopper rushing over and smiling happily. Sanji smiled as well, glad to see that the little doctor had safely made it back to the ship.

"When you and Zoro didn't show up at the meet up time we thought something had happened." Nami added. "Where were you two?"

Sanji had a strong urge to tell them about all that happened last night. It gnawed at his mind and weighed his heart down.

But then he remembered what Zoro had said. His threat to the cook of if he ever told anyone about last night. Sanji swallowed. He would have to keep it a secret.

"Thanks to the baka Marimo we got lost. Took us forever to finally make it back." The cook lied. Everyone nodded and agreed that his story made sense. Sanji breathed out a sigh of relief.

He then noticed over everyone's shoulders Zoro stepping out of the dorm.

The cook just stared at him. He did not know how to feel or what to say. Everything was just really confusing. He wanted to talk to him so badly, but there was no way he would listen. Sanji knew that.

"ZOROOOO!!" Luffy cried as he noticed the swordsman. He then leapt off of Sanji and rushed over to him, doing that same as he had to the cook.

Zoro teetered and tried his best to not suffocate under their captains vice like grip. Everyone then took their attention away from Sanji and looked to Zoro.

The cook did not go over to him. He just stayed in the same spot and stared. That was all he really knew he could do at the moment.

"Zoro! Your arm!" Chopper suddenly gasped. The cook looked at where the reindeer was gesturing and noticed what he had.

There was a large open wound on Zoros right arm. Blood soaked his tattered sleeve. From the shape of it, Sanji could tell that it was a bite. No doubt from the giant werewolf be fought. Then again, making it out of a fight like that with only a bite was lucky enough in Sanjis mind.

Werewolves were infamous for their raw strength and dexterity. Taking only one down was at least a 100 man job, each man at least having the same strength as Luffy.

The cook knew without a doubt that a werewolf was 10 times stronger then their own captain, and that was not his opinion, it was a fact.

Chopper urged Zoro to the infirmary while everyone tried to pry Luffy off of him. Sanji just watched the scene before him as he took another drag of his cigarette.

Finally Luffy was off and Chopper was pulling Zoro to the infirmary. The group dispersed into the galley and Sanji only then realized that he had forgotten to make breakfast. He rushed after everyone and hurriedly made their meal.

Everyone tried to ask him questions about last night and Sanji made up all answer for all of them, hoping no one would catch onto him.

After breakfast the cook was in the galley alone cleaning up. All was quiet and peaceful until he heard a door open and looked up, regretting that he did.

Standing in the doorway was Zoro, right arm bandaged, a stern look on his face, but he was not looking at Sanji.

He walked over to the fridge and went to grab a bottle of sake. The cook watched him sift through it. That was when he knew that he needed answers. Now.

"Zoro." Sanji said, his tone harsh and steady. The swordsman did not look up, but he did stop looking for the sake.

"We need to talk."

The silence that followed was tense. No one made a move or a sound as they just stood there. Sanji glaring down Zoros neck while he refused to turn around.

After longer then Sanji thought it would take, Zoro finally turned around, but his eyes were downcast. He then took his newly acquired bottle of sake and left the galley without a single word.

The cook just stood there, dumbfounded. Zoro had just given him the coldest if shoulders ever humanly possible, but the cook did not chase after him, he just sighed and went back to washing the dishes because he knew that if Zoro was not going to give him answers, then there was only one other person who could.

ZOSAN

After he finished cleaning Sanji walked throughout the Sunny until he made it to the Library. He opened the door and noticed the person he was hoping to run into sitting in a chair reading the largest book he had ever seen.

"Robin-Chwan~" Sanji swooned as he floated over to the archeologist.

"Cook-San" Robin addressed Sanji as she looked up from her book. "Welcome back."

"Thank you mademoiselle~" Sanji purred. "You know I would never keep you waiting~" Robin laughed softly.

"Do you need anything Cook-San?" She asked. Sanji smiled at her.

"Yes, actually. I was wondering if you could tell me a little about..." Sanji paused. If he told Robin that he wanted to know more about werewolves, would she think he was crazy? What if she asked him why he wanted to know? There was no way Sanji could tell her about Zoro. He had made a promise.

"Cook-San? Is something the matter?" Sanji shook himself out of his thoughts.

"N-No, nothing is wrong Robin-Chan." Sanji shifted awkwardly. "I was just wondering if you could tell me what you know about... well..." The cook bit his lip.

"W-Werewolves..." He said quietly. To his surprise, Robin only responded to his ridiculous request with a smile.

"Of course I can," she said, "but tell me Cook-San, why the sudden interest in werewolves? I've never heard you talk about them before."

Robin had that knowing look that always made Sanji nervous, like she could see right through him. He decided to think of static for extra precaution. He knew Robin could not read minds, but you can never be too careful.

"Uh... well... I was thinking about different myths and... werewolves was one of the myths I knew the best so..." Sanji struggled to find more words for his already sorry excuse for an excuse when he was interrupted by Robins giggling.

"I see, well Cook-San, you got here at the perfect time. I was just reading a book about mythical creatures." She beckoned Sanji over who gladly sat in the chair next to her. He caught a whiff of her hair which smelled faintly of flowers.

Robin swiftly turned the pages back in her book. Sanji caught quick glimpses of images of other mythical creatures, even names. Unicorn, dragon, mermaid, fairy, griffin, the list goes on.

"Vampire, centaur, Kappa, ah! Werewolf." Robin called out the name of the creature Sanji was looking for. She tilted the book towards him so that he could get a better look.

When Sanji looked over, the first thing he noticed was the illustrated representation of a werewolf. When the cook looked at it, he noticed that it looked exactly like the monster he had run into last night.

So why did Zoro look so different?

"What would you like to know about them Cook-San?" Robin asked.

"Um... everything I guess." Sanji answered. Robin smiled softly.

"I see, I guess I'll start with the basics then." Robin turned a few more pages until she landed on two pages filled up entirely of a single image. As the cook looked it over, he could make out what the image was of. A war.

There were people in old fashioned armor fighting giant werewolves and other creatures that Sanji could recognize as other mythical beasts. There was blood and death everywhere and Sanji could not tell who was fighting who.

"This book is about mythical creature said to exist only in stories. Simply made up to scare children, but these creature did exist once. Hundreds of years ago, they were very real."

Robin pointed at the pages.

"500 years ago, humans and monsters lived together with one another until humans began to fear them. Monsters were the main cause of many deaths and the reason why humans were forced to go into hiding. They wanted more for their kind, but the monsters would not give it to them. So they started a war. The victor would have control over all the land, and the right to kill the other species." Sanji frowned. What kind of sicko would add killing off the other species as a reward?

"The humans triumphed over the monsters and they reaped their rewards." Robin continued. "They gained control over all the land in the world, and the right to slaughter all the monsters.

"They were able to wipe out several species of monsters. Centaurs, vampires, and griffins for example, are all said to be extinct. Monsters like unicorns, dragons, and Kappa went into hiding during the slaughtering of their kind. That is why there are said to be sightings of them today, but they are still classified as extinct."

"What about werewolves?" Sanji asked. Robin smiled.

"For werewolves, their end was a little different.

"Since werewolves could also be seen as human, they were able to hide amongst them and escape their slaughterings. This lead to an event known today as the "Witch Trials" which were actually used for lynching werewolves rather than witches.

"To further escape this, the werewolves fled to a few small islands in the Grand Line. At that time, the Grand Line was a place no one dared enter, so for werewolves, this was the safest place they could find."

"What happened to them after that?" Sanji asked, genuinely intrigued by the story.

"Slowly, but surely, werewolves began their slow and painful road to extinction." Sanjis face fell. Robin gave him a smile.

"The islands were too small to support such a large population, so food disappeared quick. Most werewolves resulted to cannibalism to stay alive."

Robin continued to explain how werewolves died out to Sanji in horrible gruesome detail. Seeming to enjoy it a little too much for Sanjis tastes.

"Sometimes werewolves would have children and then feed themselves to them so that future generations would have something to ea-"

"Ok, I think I understand what you mean Robin-Chan." Sanji laughed nervously. "But what happened after their extinction?"

"Humans claimed that all monsters had been taken care of, and they decided that they should be forgotten about too. That was when they wrote this book. Claiming all monsters to be fake, to make sure that they're never remembered." Sanji hummed.

"Why would they do that?" He asked.

"Perhaps it's just better for everyone to believe that monsters never existed. Keeps everyone calm."

"... Are you sure werewolves aren't extinct?" Sanji asked, trying his best to refrain from bringing up the werewolf he saw the night before. Robin smiled at the question.

"Some say that there have been sightings of werewolves throughout the Grand Line. Others say that they had seen slaughtered animals and people who seemed to have been killed by a gigantic beast."

"Huh..." Sanji hummed. He was interested, but he also wanted to know what Zoro was. He did not look like a werewolf, but there was nothing else he could be. It made no sense.

Robin hummed softly and flipped back to the werewolf pages.

"Is there anything else you want to know Cook-San?" Robin asked. Sanji thought for a moment and sighed.

"I think I have everything I need to..." the cook trailed off.

"Hm? What's wrong Cook-San?" The archeologist asked him.

Sanji stared down at the book of mythical creatures and saw something that caught his eye. On the other page after werewolves there was a creature that looked like a giant wolf.

Just like Zoro.

"Um, Robin-Chan," Sanji cooed, "what is this creature?" Robin looked to where Sanji was pointing in the book and smiled.

"Well, that creature is also a werewolf, but not completely." Robin said. Sanji raised a brow in confusion.

"What do you mean?" He asked. His heart was practically beating out of his chest. He knew that that thing was, without a doubt, exactly what Zoro was.

"This creature is known as a half-breed. Meaning that it is half werewolf, half human." Sanjis eyes widened.

"W-Wait s-so a werewolf and a human..." Robin nodded.

"Werewolves also have humans forms as you know. Tricking humans into thinking that they are exactly like them."

"So... did a werewolf trick a human to have a child with it?" Sanji asked. Robin giggled.

"Well, that wasn't how it happened the first time a half-breed came to be." Then she smiled.

"But, it's not disproven that that could have happened." Sanji grimaced.

"... would you like to know more about half-breed werewolves Cook-San?" Robin asked. Sanji nodded.

"Yes, I would." He had never been more sure about anything in his life.

"Of course." Robin smiled. "A half-breed werewolf as I told you is half werewolf, half human. These werewolves first came to be 100 years ago, 400 years after the war.

"The story goes that a werewolf and a human fell madly in love with one another. Of course, this was unheard of at the time and forbidden, but they decided to stay together.

"Many months later, they had a child. The child was thought to either be born a werewolf or human, but it was actually born both.

"The parents decided that their child could be the one thing that could end the fighting between werewolves and humans forever. They tried to present their child to both humans and werewolves, but instead they were outcasted."

"What?" Sanji said. "That doesn't make any sense." Robin smiled.

"To both species, this half-breed was an abomination. A traitor to both sides."

"... What happened to it?" Sanji asked.

"Well, it's parents were murdered by the humans and they went to hunt down the half-breed, but it was able to hide away in the Grand Line, finding an island of its own to also hide from the now named Pure-blood werewolves." Sanji nodded.

"Do you think that... there are still humans and werewolves who love each other?" Robin nodded.

"I don't doubt it. I'm sure there are many half-breeds that exist now, not just from humans and werewolves, but from them reproducing with others of their kind." Sanji nodded again. Robin smiled.

"Is that all Cook-San?" She asked. Sanji nodded and smiled, trying to hide the sheer amount of anxiety and confusion he felt constricting his chest.

"Yes, thank you so much Robin-Chan~" he cooed. Robin giggled.

"Anytime Cook-San."

ZOSAN

Sanji walked out of the library. His hands were shaking and he could hear himself breathing rapidly. He ruffled around his pants pocket until he found a cigarette. He lit it and let in the longest drag he had ever had in the many years he had been smoking.

The cooks mind was racing, but also blank. He had no clue what to think of the situation he was in. It was confusing. Shocking. Terrifying.

The cook knew that Zoro was the only one who had the answers for the many questions he had. But he did know one thing:

He knew Zoros big secret that he had been keeping for the entire time he had been on the Straw Hat crew. Sanji knew the one thing he had been desperate to know for so long to the point where it had been driving him crazy.

So why did he not feel happy about it?


End file.
